The “Manti Te’o” Theories

The “Boss Theory”: There are bosses you do not want to make mad, and there are bosses you don’t want to let down.

You will work much harder for the latter.

The “American School Summer Vacations Are Too Long” Theory: America’s lengthy school summer break dates back to Victorian times where the children were needed back home to tend to the fields.

The year is 2013. Our massive summer breaks—while delightful to students and hosting grandparents—are an anachronism in a hyper-competitive, interlinked world of seven billion. The world, as Thomas Friedman put it, is flat.

The U.S. ranked 25th in math, 17th in science, and 14th in reading worldwide, and continues to fade. Each summer, as Singapore and Shanghai students learn advanced mathematic, ours learn Disney channel lineups.